Improvement in guard-fingers for harvesters



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADAM R. REESE, OF PHILLIPSBURG, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN GUARD-FINGERS FOR HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 17,894, dated July 2.8,1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, ADAM R. REEsE, of Phillipsburg, in the county ofWarren and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and usefulGuard-Finger for Harvesting-Machines,

and I do hereby declare -that the same is described and represented inthe following specification and drawings.

Io enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and use, referring to the drawings,in which the same letters indicate like parts in each of the figures.

Figure 1 is a plan or top view of the guardinger. Fig. 2 is anelevation. Fig. 3 is a plan of the under side. Fig. 4 is a section tothe right of the line z z, Fig. l. Fig. 5 is a section to the left ofthe line z z, Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a plan and elevation of one of thepieces of steel inserted in the mold when the guard-linger is cast, sothat the melted iron will run upon and around it.

The nature of my invention consists in the peculiar mode of making acast or malleable iron guard-ringer with steel cutting-edges.-

The guard-linger forharvestingmachines which I have invented may be madein the form shown in the accompanying drawings, or

, of such other form as will answer the purpose;

but I prefer to lmake it with a broad iiat shank, A, perforated with aproper number of holes,

.B B, for the screws to fasten it to the fingerbar. The rib C on theunder side of the shank A projects below the shank, as shown in Fig. 2,and extends forward to the point E. That portion of the finger whichextends forward from the shank is enlarged at D D on the upper surfaceabout one and a half inch from the shank, as shown in the drawings, andtapers gradually from D I) to the point E. It is also enlarged on theupper side gradually from the pointE to the shoulder F, as shown in Fig.2, which enlargement has a score, G, in it for the toe H of the toppiece, I, which top piece is made in the form shown in Figs. l and 2,with two arms, K K, extending back over and nearly parallel to thesteel-cuttingedges M M, so as to prevent the sickle-teeth from bendingthe stalks of the crops out over the edges M M,

and compel the sickle-teeth, in conjunction with the edges M M, to severYthe stalks and cut them o with facility. This top piece, I,

is fastened to the finger by the yiivet J, as shown in the drawings.

I will now describe the best method known to ine of making the guard-nger which I have invented, to wit.: First make a pattern of wood orsome other material of the inger and top piece in the form preferred, sothat each piece can be molded separately and with con- Venience in atwo-part ilask. The enlargements or projections D D are grooved, so asto receive the pieces of steel M M, (see plan and elevation, Fig. 6, andcross-section, Fig. 5,) and hold them in a proper position while thesand is rammed around them to form the mold. The ends N N and spurs P Pproject from the pattern, as shown by dotted lines in Figs. 1, 2, and 3,so as to form places in the mold for themselves to be replaced in themold after the pattern is withdrawn, so that the mold will hold them inthe position required when the melted metal is poured intothe mold andruns around them, entering the indentations shown in the plan Fig. 6, soas to hold them fast and rm when the metal cools upon them. After thelinger and top piece are cast they may be converted into malleable ironby some one of the well-known processes in common use for that purpose,and finished by cutting oif the spurs P P and the ends N N, and grindingor tiling` oir the steel upon each side and on the top of the linger,and the top can be easily ground or filed a little hollow or lower thanthe edges, as the iron between the edges is softer than the steel. Thetop piece, I, should be iitted on and the hole bored for the rivet J andthe holes B B in the shank, when that portion of the finger containingthe pieces of steel may be heated and dipped in Water to harden ortemper the steel edges. The top piece, I, may now be riveted on, whenthenger will be complete, ready to be fastened to the finger-bar of theharvesting-machine.

The guard-nger which I have invented may be made very cheap, while atthe same time it has hard steel edges,to aid in cutting the crops, withsoft iron between the steel edges, which can be easily iled or groundlower than the l edges, so as to leave them prominent for thesickle-teeth to act in-conjunction with, so as to cut the crops withfacility and with the eX- penditure of a small amount of power. Besides,it is found that the iron is so much softer than the steel edges thatthe sickle-teeth in passing over it wear it hollow, so as to keep thesteel edges always prominent and in good cutting order.

It will be observed that the steel edges M M are placed oblique t0 eachother, as fully shown in Fig. 5, thereby permitting the edges to besharpened with greater facility, and at the same time make theguard-finger last much longer than if they were placed dat upon thelinger. Besides, itpermits the edges to be readily sharpcned both atonce by grinding the top of the finger upon a stone.

Having thus described myiniproved guardnger for harvesters, I will statethat I do not wish to be understood as claiming broadly the use of steelplates or cutting-edges as applied to cast or malleable iron guard-lingers, for I am aware that such use is old; but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination, with a cast or malleable iron guardn ger, of the steelplates or cuttingedges M M, when the saine are united to the finger inthe peculiar manner above described, and arranged t0 operate in relationto each other and to the cutters, as fully shown in Fig. 5, for thepurposes hereinset forth.

ADAM R. REESE. Witnessesi WILLIAM HAYDEN, W. SCOTT JOHNSTON.

